Cuba: American Airlines to Fly to More Cuban Cities After U.S. Approval

For the first time since 2019, American Airlines will be flying to five destinations in Cuba. This comes after U.S. officials approved the carrier's request to resume its flights to the Caribbean country.

Former President Donald Trump previously curtailed air travel to Cuba back in October 2019. He banned flights to all Cuban cities, with the exception of the capital, Havana.

American Airlines To Resume Flights to 5 Cuban Cities in November

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved American Airlines to resume its flight operations from Miami to five Cuban cities: Clara, Varadero, Holguin, Camaguey, and Santiago de Cuba.

Flights to these Cuban cities will begin in early November. From Miami, the airline will fly twice daily to Santa Clara. It will fly once daily from Miami to the other four destinations.

Currently, American Airlines only flies between Miami and Havana six times a day. However, they are not the only airlines that travel to Havana, as Southwest and JetBlue also fly to Havana.

On their official website, American Airlines pointed out that while Americans can travel to Cuba, the country is still not open to American tourists. The Cuban government will only allow Americans entry into the country for 13 permitted travel reasons. These include family visits, official government business, journalistic activities, educational or academic purposes, religious activities, and humanitarian reasons, among others. However, tourism is not one of them.

Trump Administration Suspended Flights to Other Cuban Cities to Starve Cuban Government of Cash

While former U.S. President Barack Obama tried cooling down relations between the U.S. and Cuba, his successor, Trump, reversed all his efforts to re-establish relations.

The Associated Press reported that the Trump administration issued the ban on airlines traveling to Cuban cities other than Havana to "starve" the Cuban government of cash. This would make it harder for the government to repress its citizens even more and support Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with whom Cuba is allied.

At the time the ban was announced, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that this action will prevent the Castro regime from profiting of air travel from the United States and using the money as funds to repress the Cuban people.

Because of the new policy by Trump, carriers such as JetBlue and American Airlines were forced to comply and stop their operations in the five cities.

The Trump ban did have a lot of opponents, though, as it would make it harder for Cuban-Americans visiting relatives who live outside of Havana.

The Biden administration loosened restrictions for air travel to Cuba back in May 2022. The U.S. government under Biden is also looking to reinstate the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which currently has a backlog of more than 20,000 applications. They are also looking to increase consular services and visa processing as well.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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